For the uninitiated, I shall start with a few words
of explanation.
Long-standing tradition and custom mandate that whenever the Guru Granth is opened or closed for the day; also at every Sikh religious service, at its conclusion at least, there be a randomly selected reading from the Guru Granth.
Consequently, a single hymn is read and then designated as the guiding lamp of the Guru’s message to his Sikhs for the day or, if the Sikhs so desire, the Guru’s response to a particular query they (or an individual) might have in mind. Mind you there is routinely no one single reading for all the Sikhs scattered worldwide, although, theoretically, there could be one under very special circumstances.
Thus in this traditional reading of a single hymn, the Guru speaks to his people. Such a reading is termed Hukumnama, meaning the Command or Order of the Guru. It is also colloquially termed Vaaq meaning words or message of the Guru.
Many Sikhs listen with unmatched devotion and purpose, with rapt attention, to a broadcast of the daily Hukumnama from the Harmander Sahib in Amritsar or some other historical gurduara; others depend on the local gurduara. Many start their morning at home by randomly opening the Guru Granth and ceremoniously reading a Hukumnama or Vaaq for the day from it.
If a Sikh is to derive guidance for the day from such a reading it becomes imperative that the Hukumnama be randomly chosen. But the human mind is extraordinarily inventive and creative; even in a tome of 1430 pages, it can find a way to lock on to a particular reading, like a homing pigeon, to suit its own needs, compulsions and obsessions at any given time.
I am sure most of us have encountered occasions when it seemed that the reading from the Guru Granth was just what the doctor ordered. At other times the citation didn’t seem quite apt for the time, the need, the mood, or the question in our mind to which we were groping for an answer.
I have heard Sikhs grumpily complain to the granthi (reader of the Guru Granth) that for a particularly festive occasion the Hukumnama seemed unconnected to the purpose and was too somber and serious, as if they expected the granthi to somehow arrange for a more fitting response from the Guru Granth to their specific desires.
And then inevitably, the imperatives of commerce come to our aid.
Most granthis are so intimately familiar with the Guru Granth and their fingers so adept and nimble that they are just as pleased to pick the right page and the exact hymn to oblige us, thus earning a larger financial bonus in return.
Let me be quick to add that I have never met a Sikh who didn’t rue such shenanigans, yet there are just as many of us who expect, demand and insist that the granthi oblige us with a satisfying Hukumnama. And the granthi often does.
Surely, you would counter, the Sikh Code of Conduct (Sikh Rehat Maryada) that has codified Sikh rituals, practices and conventions would have something to say on such an important rite of Sikh worship service. And it does.
The Code recognizes that requirements of the faith have both individual and societal ramifications. Hence, the need for uniform and universal policies and procedures that all Sikhs can own.
Ergo, the Code stipulates that the page for reading be chosen at random and the shabd (hymn) be the one on the top of the left hand page. If the shabd begins earlier than the top of the page then one needs to flip to the prior page and pick up the shabd at its beginning. It also directs that the Hukum be read only once at the beginning of the day and that it remain unchanged for the rest if the day; yet, I also know of respectable Gurduaras and individuals who look for several separate Hukumnamas during the same day.
So far so good and simply stated, but it set me thinking of further ramifications of such a directive. Let’s see where our rudimentary skills in simple arithmetic lead us.
In the real world, the granthi never trolls the whole Guru Granth for the Hukumnama but limits his search usually to only the middle 300 to 400 pages. (I am being charitable here.) Elementary arithmetic tells me that the Guru Granth is thus reduced roughly to less than 30 percent of its original heft of 1430 pages.
Now let’s add a couple of additional complications.
In order to keep matters simple the Code of Conduct asks us to ignore every right hand page in our search – a further 50% reduction leaving us about 150 to 200 pages for the Hukumnama. Now we are down to perhaps 12 to 14 percent of the Guru Granth. Further keep in mind that only the one shabd on the top of the left hand folio is counted; this leaves us to find a Hukumnama out of only 150 to 200 hymns out of a possibility of thousands – perhaps a mere six percent of the entire Guru Granth.
Does that seem like a reasonable way to visualize and situate our dedication to our way of life and to the Guru Granth that we have dubbed the “Living Word – The Word/Guru Eternal”?
And no wonder that any half-way decent granthi can instantly put his finger on the right shabd to please a generous patron with a specific question or plea; the granthi needs to keep track of less than 200 shabds. Is it any wonder then that in searching for a Hukumnama the same few shabds keep popping up so often?
Believe me this is true. Almost sixteen years ago, in 1995, Daljit Singh Jawa, from Kansas put together a highly successful booklet that provided a simple exegesis of all 400 shabds that are found at the top of each left-hand page of the Guru Granth from pages 500 to 900. He provided, not a literal translation, but the central idea of the shabd followed by a brief commentary on its theme and essential meaning. I know because the book carries an appreciative note from me on the back cover. Undoubtedly useful but, just as surely, limited.
The question is what should one do?
Keep in mind the purpose of the specific procedure laid out by the Sikh Rehat Maryada. Its rationale aims to provide a system that can be uniformly followed – an institutional step by step program. This is to make sure that one doesn’t go hunting for a specific Hukumnama to suit a particular purpose.
But we also know that life is full of rude awakenings.
Mind you there is absolutely no superstition or particular magic in a specific shabd or its page number in the Guru Granth. The Hukumnama is not like the Chinese practice of I Ching aimed at finding a propitious number for a day or a particular activity; I know this is simplistic and seemingly judgmental but this is how both are used, as instruments of divination by many, if not most, who consult them.
It is surely not a holy number that a numerologist might recommend to change your life, nor is it a “mantra” that a self-acclaimed spiritual master whispers in your ear to tame the unknowns of life or resist the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.
The Vaaq from a more famous or historical Gurdwara is no more meaningful or sacred than that from a neighborhood store-front Gurdwara or from your own Guru Granth at home. Nor is a Vaaq holier if read and intoned by a famous or beloved granthi.
The greater goal of the Hukumnama, and this is important, is to provide the Sikh with a shabd for the day. A lesson for life – this is exactly how we teach and learn as children or as adults -- from the easiest elementary facts to the most complex ideas. And, no matter what the topic, as a rule if we keep exploring a lesson every day, the easier it becomes to master even the most esoteric and complex detail.
Keep in mind that the ultimate idea is for the reader to form an enduring relationship with the Guru.
This is what the Hukumnama is all about. Forget not the purpose and intent of the guidelines in the Sikh Rehat Maryada.
I offer a way to incorporate these goals of looking for Hukumnama in our lives. I would urge readers to resist the temptation to dismiss or castigate me for deliberately undermining the Rehat Maryada; that is absolutely not my aim.
So, to Sikhs who live by the Hukumnama of the day I would recommend that they randomly look for a Vaaq just as the Rehat Maryada recommends but, say, from pages 1 to 100 for a month, and pages 101 to 200 for the next month, and so on. In about a year’s time one could shift focus to the right hand pages or to the bottom of a page, and so on for the continuing series of 100 pages each that form the subset for the month.
One can simplify matters further.
It doesn’t have to be a 100 or 150 page subset that one works through for a given time, whether a week, a month or a year. It could be a fourth, third or half of Guru Granth that one explores for a given duration.
And, while doing so, hang on to the idea of random selection from within that selected subset of the Guru Granth.
Over the year and certainly over a lifetime it would help us navigate through an increasingly larger portion, and eventually the entirety, of the Guru Granth instead of reading the same approximately six to eight percent of the Guru Granth that we now explore from year to year without much change or progress.
My suggestion, I believe, would only deepen and strengthen the bond between the Sikh and the Word, and do so in a systematic ongoing manner.
And isn’t that what we all want? My recommendations here, I submit, are very much in keeping with the intent and spirit of Sikh Rehat Maryada, as well as our personal goals in this matter.
Believe me, I am not trying to undermine the Rehat Maryada. That would be as far from the truth as it can be. The idea is not to play games with it but to seriously delve into it and try to live it.
My aims are simple:
1. to connect the reader to the
message of the Guru Granth over time, and
2. to wean the reader away from the
habit of seeking a panacea for his ills or a formula for the day.
I am not asking that you endorse and follow the model that I suggest here. Not at all! Instead I am recommending that you devise your own way to engage over time with the entire Guru Granth, rather than the less than 10 percent of it as we do now and thus remain true both to the intent of the Rehat Maryada and also to the universal principles of teaching and learning.
Read the Hukumnama and let it form and guide your life – and also keep a translation handy alongside the original.